A Surprise Gaming Session

Today began as just another casual Saturday. No one had made plans to play any games. My mom, sis and the twins headed back to Brownville, NY around 1:00 PM. Out of the blue, JC-Ross gave me a call to arrange an impromptu game day at my place. He showed up around 3:00 PM, and try as we may, we could not get anyone else to join us.

We decided to play Constantinopolis, a resource management and shipping game. John had never played, so after an introductory game, John proceeded to clean house for the next two games. The scores were very close, and the game allowed us to pursue different paths to victory each game. (At least John was able to find victory.)

Constantinopolis is engaging, plays very smoothly, but is a head scratcher. Planning, patience and persistence are all necessary in order to establish a good infrastructure that will allow you to produce, sell and ship your goods. It is a victory point game, where points are earned by selling goods in the market, as well as, shipping goods to distant ports.

Unlike many heavy strategy games, there is not a great deal of wait time in between players turns. This helps prevent players from becoming bored while waiting for their turn to commence. Each game lasted a couple of hours, pretty close to the suggested time of 90 minutes. I look forward to the next session with more people. Constantinopolis supports 2 - 5 players; with more players, bidding for turn order adds another layer of complexity and strategy to an already exciting game!

Another great gaming experience! Thanks, John!

Constantinopolis is published by Fantasy Flight Games, www.fantasyflightgames.com.

Just the beginning!